


Encounter

by PlanetClare



Category: Captain America (Comics), Captain America (Movies), James "Bucky" Barnes - Fandom, Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: Apparition, Dora Milaje - Freeform, F/M, Hatut Zeraze, Haunting, Intelligent Haunting, Melancholy, Recovery, Residual Haunting, Spies & Secret Agents, Surveillance, Technology, Tragedy, Trust, Vibranium (Marvel), Wakanda (Marvel), Wakandan Technology (Marvel), War Dogs (Marvel), stolen goods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:55:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29618823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlanetClare/pseuds/PlanetClare
Summary: One night while doing surveillance, Bucky Barnes has an eerie experience.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Anna Hardy, James "Bucky" Barnes & Ayo, James "Bucky" Barnes & Okoye, James "Bucky" Barnes & Original Female Character(s), James "Bucky" Barnes & Sharon Carter, James "Bucky" Barnes & Shuri
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> © 2021 Planet Press. The characters herein are the creation of Marvel Comics which retains the rights. The character of Anna Hardy is this author’s creation.

An amount of the Wakandan metal Vibranium had been stolen following a shipment to one of the country’s secret facilities in New York, and it was believed that Helios Industries was behind the theft. The company was run by Thomas Ozem, who Wakanda’s secret police, the War Dogs, had learned was Helmut Zemo.

Although Wakanda had some of its War Dogs stationed in the area, Princess Shuri requested that Bucky Barnes, the White Wolf, also keep watch over Helios’ facility in case the missing Vibranium were to turn up there. This request did not sit well with General Okoye, the head of the royal guard, the Dora Milaje.

“With all due respect, Your Highness, I do not think it wise to enlist the assistance of the colonizer. Our War Dogs are fully capable of investigating the theft of Wakanda’s Vibranium,” General Okoye stated as she stood before the scientist Princess.

Speaking directly, Shuri responded, “General, I am aware that you do not trust Sergeant Barnes. However, his considerable skills and past dealings with the suspected perpetrator make Sergeant Barnes a valuable ally in our attempts to reclaim the stolen Vibranium. I insist that he be engaged for his assistance.”

Unable to sway the Princess, the General frowned and reluctantly replied, “Yes, Your Highness.”

When Bucky was contacted by Lieutenant Ayo via his Kimoyo beads bracelet, she informed him of Princess Shuri’s request. He was accustomed to speaking with the Lieutenant, the Dora Milaje’s second in command, since General Okoye could not hide her disdain for the soldier and used Lieutenant Ayo as a buffer.

Gazing at the Lieutenant’s holographic image as it hovered above his wrist, Bucky said, “Tell Princess Shuri and General Okoye that I’ll investigate this matter at once.”

* * * * * *

By 12 midnight, Bucky had finished setting up cameras on the upper level of an abandoned warehouse across the street from a manufacturing plant that was a front for Helios Industries.

‘Nobody does this on-site anymore,’ the soldier thought as he quickly went about his work.

Not wishing to spend the night in the cold warehouse, Bucky turned on the cameras and checked the feed to a laptop that he would be able to tap into remotely. Whatever might transpire across the street would be recorded, and he could observe it from the warmth of his tiny apartment across town.

Just as the soldier started gathering his gear, he detected movement out of the corner of his eye and immediately froze.

‘Weird...’ he thought. ‘I didn’t hear anyone come in.’

Slowly, Bucky cautiously turned his head to the right and was surprised by what he saw. On the other side of the large room, he spied a young woman performing some sort of repetitive act.

‘How did she get in here without me hearing her, and what the heck is she doing?’ he wondered.

Quickly, Bucky realized that those questions were not the oddest things about the situation as he suddenly noticed that he could see the far wall through the girl’s body.

‘A _ghost?_ Get a grip on yourself, Barnes. You must be working too hard,’ he decided.

Blinking hard, Bucky expected the girl to be gone when he opened his eyes, but she was not. Amazed, he could not help but stand motionless and observe her. He noted that she wore a full, flowing brown skirt that ended just above her ankles and an oversized white blouse with long sleeves. The blouse was plain except for a blue drawstring around the scoop neckline. Upon her feet, she wore tattered brown ankle boots which were too large for her and looked like hand-me-downs.

‘What’s she doing?’ the soldier wondered again as he watched her repeating the same motion over and over. Finally, he realized, ‘She’s...folding. She looks like she’s folding something.’

Slowly and silently, Bucky moved back toward the equipment that he had set up and carefully turned one of the cameras toward the far wall where the girl was standing oblivious to his presence. A few moments later, she disappeared right before his eyes.

Bucky took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. ‘I’ve seen some weird stuff, but that has to be my first bona fide ghost,’ he decided. Picking up two cases, he left the cameras and laptop and headed home.

* * * * * *

Upon entering his apartment, Bucky put down his cases and removed his leather jacket. He eagerly turned on the laptop on his desk and tapped into the video feed at the warehouse. Staring for several moments at the output from the camera aimed at the wall, the soldier was disappointed at not seeing the girl.

“So, _now_ you’re shy?” he asked sarcastically as he wondered if she would reappear that night. “Suit yourself,” he said as he scratched at the stubble on his chin.

Despite feeling sleepy, Bucky decided to do some research to see if he could identify the girl in the warehouse. Typing keywords into a search engine, he initially came up empty-handed.

‘I wonder...’ the soldier thought as he tried different keywords and typed the warehouse address into the search field. As his eyes scanned the list of hits, one article stood out to him.

**AG LOGISTICS PURCHASES LANGSTON BUILDING**

Skimming through the article, Bucky learned that although the building had been acquired five years ago by a logistics company, the property remained unoccupied.

‘That’s odd,’ he thought.

Reading further, he saw the following:

“In 1902, the site was the scene of a fire which tragically took the life  
of 15-year-old Anna Hardy who worked in the Boyer Laundry.”

Thinking for a few moments about the ghost, Bucky realized, ‘Laundry...laundry...That’s it! She’s folding _laundry!_ Anna Hardy? That’s _got_ to be her!’

When further searches yielded no more information on the girl, he decided to get some sleep.

Bucky removed his shirt, boots, and pants and lay on his back on his bed. His eyelids felt heavy as he closed his tired eyes. Within five minutes, the soldier was fast asleep. Ten minutes later, the girl reappeared in the warehouse and folded clothes.

* * * * * *

When Bucky awoke a few hours later, he sat up, stretched, and yawned. Before doing anything else, he checked his laptop to see what happened at the Hydra warehouse while he slept. Seeing that things were still quiet, he checked the other feed for activity.

Initially, he was disappointed because it appeared to show no activity at all. However, upon closer inspection, Bucky was able to discern a faint image which appeared to be the ghost.

‘There you are, Anna,’ he thought as he watched her repetitive folding. After ten minutes, the image disappeared again. Bucky rose and walked to his small bathroom where he took a quick shower. Once he was dressed, he returned to his laptop and saw that the faint image of the girl had returned and was folding again.

Opening a browser, Bucky entered the keywords “ghost repetitive motion” which yielded numerous hits on residual hauntings. The soldier skimmed through a few articles on the subject and returning to the main search page, he saw articles on “intelligent hauntings” and briskly read a few of them wanting to be prepared when he returned to the warehouse that evening.

* * * * * *

It was just after midnight and upon returning to the Langston Building, Bucky went upstairs, knelt in front of his equipment, and spent a few minutes checking the camera feeds focused on the warehouse across the street. When he was satisfied that there was nothing to report to Fury, he shifted his attention to the feed from the camera pointed at the far wall.

Bucky backed up the feed and then fast forwarded to see if there was any activity. As he watched the footage, he was unaware that invisible clothes were being folded behind him.

Suddenly, Bucky heard a voice being transmitted and looked at his Kimoyo bracelet. There, he was surprised to see the holographic image of General Okoye.

‘Things must be serious if she’s contacting me herself,’ he supposed.

Without greeting him, the general addressed the soldier.

“Mission report, White Wolf.”

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, the soldier responded, “Silent running, General.”

“I cannot stress enough the importance of recovering the missing Vibranium.”

“I appreciate the gravity of the situation, General. I will not let you or the Princess down.”

“See that you don’t,” she said before her image disappeared.

“Damn it,” Bucky hissed. “She always has to have the last word,” he noted as he began to shiver in the cold warehouse. “I wonder when was the last time Okoye froze her butt off doing surveillance,” he mumbled. He then glanced over his right shoulder and was surprised to see the apparition once again folding.

Against his better judgment, Bucky stood and slowly walked closer to the figure. He watched quietly for a few moments before sitting on the floor across from her. As he watched her intently, he noted the sad expression on her face and how tired she looked.

‘She was just a kid and worked so hard,’ he lamented feeling sorry for the girl. He imagined his own sister Rebecca being in her position, and it made him sadder.

From his research, Bucky concluded that what he was witnessing was a residual haunting and, therefore, trying to interact with her would be pointless. Nonetheless, he decided to put that to a test.

Looking around the nearby area, Bucky saw a chair’s broken caster on the floor. Crawling over to it, he picked it up. Upon returning to his seated position, he threw the caster at the far wall next to the apparition. Instead of reacting to the noise, the girl’s image simply disappeared.

Shocked, Bucky froze. When the girl’s image did not return after a few moments, he said sadly, “I’m sorry, Anna,” convinced that he must have scared her away.

Several moments passed as Bucky sat staring at the opposite wall as he hoped the girl’s image would return. Finally losing hope, he stood and walked over to his surveillance equipment on the other side of the large room. Seated on the floor in front of the laptop, he watched for any suspicious activity at the plant across the street, but he occasionally glanced at the feed from the camera pointed at the wall behind him.

After fifteen minutes passed, Bucky decided to return home when suddenly, he noticed activity in the Helios Industries plant. Glancing at the clock on his laptop, he noted the time.

‘Two o’clock is either too early or way too late to be shipping anything,’ he noted.

Adjusting the cameras to zoom in through the door as it rolled up on the plant’s loading dock, Bucky could see men in grey overalls loading the last of a few cargo boxes into a large truck.

Quickly, Bucky extended his hand, turned his palm upward, and squeezed one of his Kimoyo beads.

“Yes, White Wolf?” Lieutenant Ayo asked as her image appeared before him.

“Helios is on the move. Cargo has been loaded and prepared for transit.” He gave her the license plate number of the truck and awaited her response. Meanwhile, he captured footage and still images of the activity.

Three minutes later, Bucky saw a group of men and women in dark clothing emerge and surround the facility.

“Good work, White Wolf. The War Dogs will take it from here,” Lieutenant Ayo said.

“As you wish,” the soldier replied.

Bucky remained in front of the monitor for a few moments as he watched the men on the loading dock be rounded up as the cargo containers were opened and emptied of the stolen Vibranium. He realized that the entire operation could have been handled by the War Dogs but knew that when she could, Princess Shuri liked to keep him involved in Wakandan covert operations. He was committed to helping his adoptive country however possible, and he suspected that the Princess wanted to keep a friendly eye on him as well.

Before beginning to pack up his gear, Bucky stood for a long moment and stared at the far wall. With no more sign of the apparition, he decided it was time to return home. Once all his surveillance equipment was packed, he faced the far wall one last time.

“Good-bye, Anna. Take care of yourself,” Bucky said aloud and slowly walked toward the door where he stood for a few moments with his hand on the knob. Without looking back, he closed the door behind him.

* * * * * *

In the weeks that followed Bucky’s surveillance of the Helios Industries plant, he often thought of Anna Hardy. If his work took him to that area of town, he found himself staring at the upper floors of the Langston Building across from it as he was reminded of the nights that he spent there. If he was in the area at night, he gazed at the windows expecting to catch some indication that Anna’s ghost was still there folding laundry.

In an effort for something good to come from the girl’s tragedy, Bucky spent time researching Anna’s family to see if she had surviving relatives. Upon finding that there were siblings who had living descendants, he asked Sharon Carter for assistance in setting up a charitable account. Each year, an anonymous grant of five thousand dollars would be given to each of Anna’s relatives in college to help defray the cost of their education. They would never know from whom the grants were awarded nor his connection to their distant aunt, but the gesture went a long way to make Bucky feel that the life of the young girl in the laundry mattered.


End file.
